Thursday, July 21, 2011

Strange Sports!

Do you ever get tired of watching the same old sports on TV every day?

We’ve all got a sport that we are deeply loyal to and a handful of other ones that help fill in when our number one isn’t around, but what about all the other crazy sports out there? Red Bull has brought many strange activities to the forefront over the years, like Crashed Ice and the Air Race championships, and we got a taste of the offbeat last winter when Edmonton hosted the first ever Canadian Yukigassen championships, but it doesn’t end there!

In fact, it almost seems like there is no end to the sports craziness you’ll find if you look hard enough. Don’t believe me? Get ready to meet three of the craziest sports that I’ve stumbled upon during my recent internet travels:

You’ve heard of Parkour right? That’s the sport where people run around and do all sorts of acrobatic stuff off of and onto buildings and other structures – it’s pretty impressive, but to be honest, it looks pretty tiring. If only there was some kind of “freestyle sitting” version…

Enter: Hockern!

Ben “The Hockstar” Denn says the idea for the sport came about back in 2001 when a group of friends just started playing around with a stool (or a “hocker” in Germany) and trying to do tricks. By 2006, they were holding their first Hocktoberfest!

“In Germany, I would say we have about 100 active persons doing this sport and they are coming from every part of the country,” Denn says. “Hockern was also [on German TV] several times [and] this was helping to show the world our sport and get more people involved in it.”

Are you ready to see what freestyle sitting looks like? You better sit down for this one…

Pretty cool, eh? Hock ‘n Roll!

Let’s move on to our next strange sport: Sepak Takraw.

As The Nosebleeds tells us, this one is a mix of volleyball and soccer, and it looks like it’s played on a modified badminton court. Apparently you can only use your feet, knees, chest and head to get the ball over the net, but it’s a lot more difficult than it might sound!

Check it out:

Look at how agile those guys are! That is definitely not a sport I’d be good at for more than about two minutes!

Okay, so to recap: Hockern is basically freestyle sitting and Sepak Takraw is a blend of volleyball and soccer (played on a badminton court). Are you ready for the third crazy sport on my list?

This right here is something you really have to see to believe – Bo-Taoshi is a sport where one guy climbs to the top of a wooden pole, which is held up by his teammates, and all they have to do is maintain possession of the pole.

Sounds easy, right? What if there is a pack of guys running towards your team, who plan on fighting their way to the top of the pole?

Once again, I don’t think this is a sport I’d be very good at for more than a couple of minutes!

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Who the heck is Kerrzy?

Kerrzy is a Canadian, sports-loving journalist who loves to dish opinion on all things funny, sporty, serious and...well, you get the picture.
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